


Summer Flings

by VanillaSwimmer



Category: Harvest Moon: Sunshine Islands
Genre: Bad Matchmaking, Blind Date, Dating, F/M, Matchmaking, Multi, Romance, Romantic Comedy, Summer, Summer Love, Summer Romance, Teen Romance, beach date
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-03
Updated: 2018-10-15
Packaged: 2019-07-06 11:07:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15884811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VanillaSwimmer/pseuds/VanillaSwimmer
Summary: Chelsea loves her boyfriend Vaughn - maybe a little too much. She can't imagine life without him. So naturally, he dumps her.What's a girl to do? There's no-one she's got her eye on. No-one who seems terribly interested in her, either. Maybe she should resign herself to just being alone.Or maybe she's just not looking hard enough. Maybe her standards are too high. And maybe, just maybe, with the help of her childhood friend and local bad influence Julia, Chelsea can land a summer fling for the ages - provided she doesn't die trying.Originally written and published under otakuandproud123 - my old account - in 2012. I know, I regret it too





	1. The Wait

**Author's Note:**

> So this is a kinda old fanfiction of mine that I decided to polish up and post! I really liked the idea of it, but I didn't like the writing lol. Anyway, have some stuff

One hand twirled a strand of strawberry-blonde hair between its index finger and thumb, while the other drummed its fingers on the table. Blue eyes gazed at the iPhone on the desk, its screen scratched and dented from years of use.

The screen went from dark to white in an instant, and the impatient hand picked up the phone and held it to a small ear, hidden under a curtain of not-quite-blonde hair.

"Chelsea speaking," she said, wishing that the person on the other end of the line was her boyfriend, Vaughn – the only person she really wanted to talk to right then.

School had just ended for the both of them, and he’d promised that he would call her to make plans for the next time they met. That was why Chelsea waited so anxiously for his call. Otherwise, what else would she have to do with her time?

"Hey, Chelse."

Just Julia. Chelsea pouted. Hadn’t she told Julia not to call her until after she’d talked to Vaughn? More out of irritation than anything else, Chelsea hung up and put the phone back in the place where it had been before.

The phone rang again, and this time, Chelsea took her time to read the name of the contact. Julia again. Scrunching up her nose, Chelsea picked up the phone and answered it, deciding to answer instead of suffering a night of pointless calls.

"What do you want, Julia?" Chelsea asked, leaning back and placing her hand across her stomach. In an effort to calm to herself down, she tried to prop her feet up on the desk in front of her. There were two piles of books, several stacks of papers, and too many flash cards to count spread around the hard, worn surface, but there was just enough space for a dirty pair of Farmer feet.

Julia’s tone was acid – or, well, as far as you could call it acid, considering Julia’s personality. "Alright, first, hanging up on me was rude.”

“Well, I told you not to call until Vaughn did.”

“You didn't even hear what I had to say!"

Chelsea sighed and brushes some hair away from her face. "Alright, I'm sorry about that."

"You’d better be.” There was some shuffling on the other end of the line. Maybe Julia was laying down in bed. “Anyway, did you hear? Some guy and his family are moving into the apartment complex nearby. I heard some gossip that he's cute, available, and totally your type!"

Chelsea rolled her eyes. “Julia…”

“Oh, just hear me out, will you?” Julia scoffed. “You know how Vaughn is but you won’t break up with him anyway. I’m just preparing a few extras just in case he breaks your heart and you need a rebound.”

Chelsea frowned – but then, she thought about it. Julia had a point. She sat back and sighed again. “Fine, go on.”

Julia let out a little squeal, and then started a tirade about the boy's appearance and how nice he supposedly was.

Whenever Julia heard that there was an attractive male within a couple hundred miles of her, regardless of their attitude, she always seemed to develop a void in her mind, right in the place that was supposed to remind her of Chelsea and Vaughn's relationship. Sure, she’d never really liked him to begin with, and Chelsea had been having a few problems with him being distant lately – hence her desperation for a call – but that didn’t give Julia an excuse to start trying to set Chelsea up with attractive guys as soon as she learned of their existence.

Finally, Chelsea had enough, and interrupted Julia right in the middle of the vivid description of the boy’s eyes (green with golden flecks in them.) "Julia, how many times do I have to remind you, I have a boyfriend, who I am currently waiting to call me?"

"You mean you haven’t broken up with him yet? But you deserve so much better…”

“I’m serious, Julia. Just let me focus on my relationship, okay?”

Julia sighed. “Well, if that’s how you feel. I suppose I'll just have to take him as my own boyfriend, then!"

"You have a boyfriend too," Chelsea reminded Julia.

In all honesty, Chelsea would have needed at least five more hands to count how many boyfriends Julia had had and dumped over the past six months alone, all of them having been previously appealed to Chelsea and subsequently turned down. What, exactly, was wrong with picking just one guy and sticking to him, and how could a single teenager go through so many boys in such a short time without feeling a single ounce of guilt?

Julia snorted and made her reply, perhaps answering both questions for Chelsea. "What, him? Pfft, I was gonna dump him anyways. I mean, he always tastes like alcohol and cigarettes when I kiss him.”

"Spare me the details," Chelsea replied, rolling her eyes – even though Julia couldn't see her. She knew that her childhood friend, of all people, would know her well enough to sense it. "Anyway, if that's all you have to tell me, I gotta go. I’m still waiting for my own boyfriend to call me."

"Hmph.” Perhaps Julia was trying to sound affronted, but she only sounded disappointed. “Alright, call ya later."

Julia was the first to hang up.

With a small pang of regret in her heart, Chelsea put her feet back on the ground where they belonged and lay her phone back on the desk. She picked up a sheet of paper and a mechanical pencil, and began to write down all the possible things to say to Vaughn when he called her.


	2. The Break

At 7:00 pm the next Saturday, Chelsea was waiting in front of Vaughn's house.

She wore a short, white jacket over a pink tank top and blue jeans, a change from her usual go-to outfit. She’d even managed to put on some make-up, though it was nothing more than a few swipes of eyeshadow and a little brush of lip gloss. Even though they'd been together for a little over two years, Chelsea couldn't help but feel a need to look her best in front of Vaughn.

She shuffled uncomfortably – and then she heard footsteps coming from the direction of the house. She glanced up, assuming them to be her boyfriend.

She was right.

Vaughn came out into the moonlight in a white button-down and some black trousers, his silver hair reflecting the starlight. He looked so handsome, his purple eyes glinting, even as his eyelids slid low over them.

Chelsea broke into a smile, then walked up and gave him a hug. "Hi, Vaughn."

“Hey,” Vaughn murmured, hunching back. He didn’t return the hug. In fact, he actually seemed… gloomy, and not in his usual way.

Maybe he was sick? He did feel pretty warm when he was pressed up against Chelsea just now…

As if to answer her question with a firm ‘no’, Vaughn squirmed away from Chelsea.

She stared at him. "You retreated."

"I know." Vaughn sighed as he touched the tip of his nose, like he usually did when he was stressed out.

Moving slowly, Chelsea moved a bit closer to him. She couldn’t help but worry about him a little more. What if he really was sick? Then they wouldn't have been able to do whatever it was he was planning to do that night! What a disaster.

"Vaughn…?" Chelsea asked in a careful tone. She reached out to hold his shoulder, but Vaughn intercepted her hand and kept it between them before she could touch him.

Chelsea’s heart sank a little.

"Chelsea…" Vaughn took her other hand in his and began rubbing her palms with his thumbs, a comforting gesture that didn’t feel comforting at all. "I… I have something to tell you."

Chelsea swallowed the lump in her throat, though it didn’t do much to help the heat that was rising in her chest. "What is it, Vaughn? I'm all ears."

Vaughn was quiet for a moment. All Chelsea could hear was the thumping of her pulse in her ears, and the way he breathed, as if she could hear his very chest moving in and out. "Well… lately, I just haven't… I haven't been feeling the same way as we did two years ago."

Chelsea's eyes widened. Was he doing what she thought he was doing?

"I can change," she said immediately.

"It’s not that.” Vaughn's silvery hair caught the moonlight as he shook his head in denial. “You’re perfect.”

I don’t feel very perfect, thought Chelsea. The night seemed to mock her, the sky sparkling with the millions of stars that they could actually see. The air was not too cold and not too warm, and fireflies buzzed around the little pools of water in the grass, adding their own reflection to that of the stars.

She managed to meet Vaughn’s eyes. "Then what's the problem?"

"The problem?” Vaughn frowned. “Chelsea, can you think about what we did on our date two weeks ago?"

Chelsea thought. “We stayed at your place and watched Desperate Housewives.”

"And the week before that?"

"We stayed at my place and watched Survivor."

"And the week before that?"

"We stayed at your place and watched Bleach…” She pouted, honestly not knowing what the problem was. She liked the shows they watched together – and, more importantly, she liked making fun of them together. “So all we did was watch TV. What about it?"

"So?” Vaughn’s tone turned sharp all of a sudden, and he released Chelsea’s hands like they were poisonous. “So, that's all we've been doing."

"But…” Chelsea blinked. Her head was beginning to feel hot, specifically behind her eyes. “You never told me you didn’t like it. You always just said you wanted to stay in.”

“Well, that’s just not enough anymore.” Vaughn looked to the side. “I need something more.”

There was a moment of silence.

“We can change,” Chelsea managed to say. “Maybe we can go to see that new Snow White movie together, or go to dinner in a new restaurant, or…"

She trailed off, looking at Vaughn with shining eyes.  
He shook his head.

"I'm sorry, Chelsea,” he murmured. "I just… I just think we need to see other people."

A tear managed to escape. “But… Vaughn…”

“Please, don’t argue. I’ve already made up my mind.” Vaughn held Chelsea’s chin, his eyes looking into hers but not quite seeing her, and gently, he gave her a kiss on the corner of her mouth – and with that, he turned his back on Chelsea, and walked back into his house.


	3. The Friend

A few days later, Chelsea was draped across a swivel chair in Julia's room, spinning herself around as despondently as one could while spinning a swivel chair.

Beside her, Julia fumed on and on about Vaughn. Her bag slumped beneath a desk that would never have been used were it not for the fact that Julia kept her laptop on it. Her mother wouldn't allow her to use it anywhere else, for fear of dropping it, especially after that one incident where Julia left her laptop on her bed while she was asleep, and it fell off sometime in the middle of the night. Luckily, it was still alive, but it had blue screens much more often, much to everyone's annoyance (but especially Julia’s).

"I can't believe the nerve of that guy! I mean, come on, I never liked him, but to call you to his house just to break up with you!" Julia gave an angry squeal as she continued around the room, grabbing at her hair like it was Vaughn’s neck.

Chelsea screwed her eyes shut, wondering if Julia would have said the same thing if Vaughn had broken up with Chelsea because he’d found out she’d gone on a date that Julia had arranged.

Of course, she hadn’t – but that didn’t stop him from breaking up with her anyway.

Chelsea just sighed. “Forget it, Julia. It’s in the past.”

Julia stopped in her tracks and gawked at Chelsea. “In the past! It was three days ago and you’re not showing any misery at all.”

“Do you want me to be miserable?” Chelsea asked in a dead voice.

“No,” Julia huffed. “But you blew me off so many times for him that I kind of need you to be upset right now.”

A pang of guilt hit Chelsea’s heart then. She had blown Julia off a few times, hadn’t she? That wasn’t fair on her childhood friend. Still, she wasn’t about to let herself cry over some guy – even if she had dated him for the past few years or so… Chelsea placed her hand on her forehead and draped even further, as if she was in a soap opera. "Oh, I am filled with misery. The end is nigh! Woe is me."

Julia squinted at Chelsea and her lame theatrics, and for a moment, Chelsea thought she would still be upset with her – but then, Julia shrugged, and instead, she continued to rant.

As she did so, Chelsea found herself drifting away once again – and this was quite a natural route for her to take, as by this point, Julia was just repeating the same points over and over again.

And then Julia stopped in her tracks.

"Wait, " she said, as if Chelsea had been ranting right alongside her.

Chelsea peeked at Julia from under her hand. “What?”

A grin spread over Julia’s face, and she took a deep breath. Then, she leaned back and gave Chelsea jazz hands. "I can set you up some summer flings!"

Chelsea frowned. “No.”

Julia pouted. “Hear me out, please? You didn’t even listen to my idea.”

“You’ve just said your idea and it sounds like a bad one to me.” Chelsea shook her head. "Why don’t you do it instead? You’ve had tons of them before."

“But I’m not the one who’s heartbroken.” Julia ran over and grabbed the back of the swivel chair, peering down over the top of it and grinning at Chelsea. "And they’ve gotten boring, too. Why, just think of that guy…"

Julia set off on another rant then, except this time, she started by describing some dude called Jack or something equally forgettable and then went on to describe the other guys she’d dated summers prior in greater detail than Chelsea would have preferred.

Finally, Chelsea shook her head, pulling herself back up into a proper sitting position. She set her arm across the back of her chair and looked over her shoulder at Julia. "Seriously, Julia, stop naming them or we’ll be here all day."

Julia stopped, blinked, and then shrugged. "Your call. But seriously, at some point in a teenager's life, they gotta have a summer fling!”

“I don’t know about that.”

Julia ignored Chelsea and spun the chair around so they were facing each other, Julia’s hands on Chelsea’s shoulders. “Why don't you start this summer? I can set you up with someone, if you'd like!"

Chelsea shook her head again. "I don't think so. Remember that time Elliot set you up with one of his friends?"

"Oh yeah… we went to that carnival…” Julia grimaced, then laughed at the mention of it, which Chelsea had actually planned so that Julia would think about the impact she could possibly have on Chelsea. What if Julia chose a jerk or something for her to date? That would kill her. Maybe literally.

But then again… Julia had brought up a good point earlier. The one about Chelsea not paying as much attention to her. The two of them had been childhood friends for a while now, and though Chelsea wasn’t necessarily the emotional type, she did feel pretty guilty about ditching her friend so many times.

But clearly, Julia had moved on. “Hey, remember what we did in the Hall of Mirrors?"

"Oh believe me, I'll never forget." Chelsea's eyes widened as she said this. Couldn't Julia have been less explicit with the details? Honestly, if Chelsea ever ended up becoming a nun, Julia would only have had herself to blame.

Although, that sounded like a good idea right about now. Maybe Julia could help her research convents later…

Chelsea shook her head like the fantasy would come flying out of her ears – along with the guilt she was mulling over earlier. "Anyway, I can't have a summer fling. I mean, I just broke up with Vaughn, and I still need to adjust to life without him."

"Adjust to it? Adjust to it?" Julia walked over to Chelsea's bag, picking it up and dumping some battered old notebooks out of it. "These books are filled with sad, sad poems, all about your break-up. I think you’ve adjusted enough."

"My personal favorite is Standing in the Rain with Fireflies and Tears Running Down My Face," Chelsea boasted, puffing out her chest – maybe out of pride, maybe out of the fact that she’d said all that in one breath. "Wanna read it?"

"No!" Julia chucked the notebooks back into the bag. "With the rate you're going at, you may never recover! You’ll become a nun – WHAT DO YOU MEAN, CAN I HELP YOU RESEARCH CONVENTS?!”

Just as Julia finished shrieking, Elliot – a friend of hers who happened to live nearby and often popped over to visit – peered into the room. True to form, he couldn’t seem to help but stick his nose into whatever the two girls inside were talking about this time. "Research nunneries for what?"

Julia heaved a great and melodramatic sigh. "Chelsea just broke up with her boyfriend and I'm trying to comfort her. She's absolutely devastated about it, but she’s being a dummy!"

Elliot raised an eyebrow and looked at Chelsea, who certainly didn’t look absolutely devastated about it. Like anybody else, she kept her dying on the inside, thank you very much. Elliot didn’t comment on her… devastation, instead settling on saying "Well, if she's looking for a new boyfriend, she can always talk to me…"  
Chelsea gave him a dead look. "Don't you have somewhere to be?"

“So that’s a no?”

Julia tossed a pack of paper towels at Elliot. “It’s a no and a get out of here. Leave us to our girl time, yeah?”

“Oh, fine.” And Elliot left.

Julia stood up and collected her ammunition. She took one sheet out and daintily dabbed at her nose before moving to the edge of her bed and sitting down on it, rubbing her hands like a used car salesman readying his pitch. "Well, now that that's over with…"

Julia looked like she was ready to continue to talk up the benefits of summer flings, but Chelsea put up a hand and interrupted her before she could even begin. "Wait.”

“Wait for what? For you to blow off my ideas again?” Julia frowned and crossed her arms, laying back on the bed. “I really want to help you, you know. I don’t think you’re being fair.”

That gave Chelsea some more pause. For a moment, she stayed silent, and she bit her lip and looked off to the side in thought.

She did owe her friend a lot. That was the very least she could do. And then she had to make up for ignoring Julia for all the time she and Vaughn had been together…

Chelsea sighed. “…I’ll think about it.”

Julia squealed, and jumped off the bed. “You will?”

“I said I would, didn’t I?” Chelsea grinned, though she still had that nagging feeling in the back of her head – the one that told her when something was about to go very, very wrong.

But Chelsea ignored it. Instead, she went over to her bag and pulled out one of her notebooks. “Now will you read my poems?"

Julia rolled her eyes, but complied nonetheless. She’d gotten her way, after all. What more could she possibly want?


	4. The Meet

A few days after the discussion at Julia’s house, Chelsea was on her way to meet Julia at the mall. Per Julia’s advice, she’d worn her nice outfit again, the one she’d worn to her breakup. Better to make new memories in this outfit instead of thinking of it and being sad, after all.

(And yes, she was an outfit repeater. Shut up.)

A large building slithered into her sight, becoming larger as she walked nearer, as buildings tend to do. Teenagers sat on the steps and did whatever as the blonde made her way to a nearby bench.

Chelsea’s feet ached. Walking all the way from her house to the mall tired her out. Oh, if only she’d gotten that 4.0 GPA that she'd needed for her mother to buy her a new car! Alas, she’d been busy with Vaughn. She’d skipped a lot of classes for him, come to think of it.

Her heart ached at the thought of it. Maybe if she hadn’t been so obsessed with him, she’d be better off now.

Her phone vibrated inside her bag. She’d just gotten a message. It took a long time for Chelsea to fish – hey, punny foreshadowing – the phone out, but when she did, she saw that the text was from Julia. Maybe she was telling Chelsea where she was waiting. Chelsea tucked a bit of stray hair behind her ear and scanned the message.

Go to the beach. I have a little surprise for you.

Chelsea’s eyes darkened at that. What was Julia planning?

After a few minutes of just lounging on the bench, Chelsea decided that she'd had enough rest and stood up, stretching her arms as she did so. Why was it that she was so good at running in P.E, but had so little stamina in real life? It was as if she'd walk a few dozen meters, then suddenly need to rest. Although, to give herself some credit, the distances she’d have to walk were a whole lot longer than the twenty meters the class had to run in P.E.

Deciding to persuade her mom to let her get a bike instead – beneficial to the environment, money saved on new shoes to replace the ones worn from walking, and free exercise; a win-win-win situation! – Chelsea promptly hailed a cab.

\--

After quite some time, the cab pulled up to the destined beach. Chelsea shelled out some money to the driver for his troubles and stepped into the crystalline white sand, leaving him to drive away.

It was a beautiful day. Palm trees swayed in the breeze, but Chelsea took care not to walk under them, should gravity work its magical ways on some unfortunate coconut and her unfortunate head. The ocean was a deep blue, white horses galloping at the tops of its waves.

There weren't very many people on the beach, which was surprising, considering it was summer. There were also no Julias on the beach, which was surprising, but for a different reason.

Chelsea frowned and made her way to a nearby pier, where two boys were fishing nearby a rickety old shack. The shack appeared to be called 'Just for The Halibut'. In regards to the boys, one was tan and wearing a purple bandanna, and the other was wearing a blue cap over his blonde hair, and they didn’t appear to be too deep in conversation.

She walked over to them and cleared her throat, making them turn back to look at her. "Um, excuse me… you haven't seen a sexy blonde girl anywhere around here, have you?"

The boy with the tanned skin blinked, then frowned for a few moments – until he broke out into a huge grin. "Oh, so you're my date?"

Chelsea's eyes widened, and she felt the inside of her mouth become dry. She couldn't think of an answer, but luckily, the blonde boy answered her question for her.  
(The one she’d asked earlier, not the one she was mulling over now.)

"Do you mean Julia?” he asked, his voice gentle. “Nah, not around here. But she called Denny here yesterday and set him up with who I'm assuming to be you."

Oh, so Denny was the tanned guy’s name. Actually, it was kinda cute, and so was he… even though he smelled like fish.

Chelsea wrinkled her nose at the smell. “Yeah, that sounds like her. Unless she has any other girlfriends she could set people up with?”

“Not to my knowledge,” said the blonde.

“Sweet,” Chelsea muttered bitterly – except Denny must have had bionic ears or something, because he instantly broke out into an even huger grin.

"Sweet!” he parroted, then stood up. “Just let me go get ready."

Denny walked off into the nearby, taking the fishing pole with him and not even bothering to take in the line. Hopefully taking a shower and getting rid of the fishy smell was part of what he meant by getting ready, since Chelsea didn't wasn’t really in the mood to smell fish if they were going out to dinner or something like that.

As soon as Denny was in the shack, the blond boy stood up and gave Chelsea a once over.

She bristled at that. “What are you looking at? You’re making me uncomfortable.”

“Hm? Oh, sorry.” Blondie blushed a little, but gave her a smirk. "I was just thinking that you weren’t going to last very long.”

Chelsea narrowed her eyes. "Excuse me?"

The boy put up his hands in front of him. "Listen, I know who you are. You're Chelsea Farmer, aren't you? The… farmer."

"How do you know that?"

“I’m in your class, but I don’t think we’ve talked before.” Blondie gestured as he spoke. "Almost everyone in the grade knows who you are. After all, you're one of the smartest. Can’t say the same for myself, though."

Chelsea stared at him, racking her head for a name – but none came up. She did recognise him, though. Part of the back of the class crew, as she and Julia called it.  
But what was his name?

As if the boy read her mind, he smiled, and stuck out his hand. "The name's Mark, Mark Gardner.”

Chelsea took his hand and shook it, giving him a sweet smile. “Pleasure to meet you. Don’t ever give me a once-over like that again.”

Mark’s skin reddened even further. “I, I’m really sorry, I didn’t mean to come off as a creep or anything like that – ”

With a small smile, Chelsea waved it off. “Water under the bridge. What’d you come to talk to me about?”

“Oh, well…” Mark leaned in and started whispering in her ear. “Well, you do not want to go on this date with Denny. I know your friend set you up but back out now.”

Chelsea pursed her lips. “Some friend you are, throwing him under the bus like that.”

“It’s not like that,” Mark hissed. “It's like – it’s like he's cursed or something. Every date he has turns sour at some point."

Chelsea frowned. “Oh come on, I'm sure he's not that bad."

"Oh, really? Listen to this.” Mark touched Chelsea on the shoulder and pulled her a bit closer to him. “When he took some pop star wannabe girl to the movies, the projector caught on fire. And then when he took a Japanese chick to his favourite restaurant, she ended up contracting food poisoning. And let's not forget the time that - "

"Alright, I've heard enough," Chelsea hissed. “I’m nervous enough already and you’re not helping.”

Mark pulled back, looking genuinely confused. “But – but I thought I was helping.”

“Maybe you thought you were, but I’m telling you you’re not.”

"O… kay.” Mark looked off to the side and sighed. “Look – this is all going wrong. What I’m trying to say is just… Be safe, and don't do anything I wouldn't do, okay?"  
Mark placed a reassuring hand on Chelsea's shoulder. “You seem like a nice girl. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

“Same,” Chelsea murmured. She wouldn't admit it out loud, but all of a sudden, she wanted to go with Mark instead of Denny on this date.

And speak of the devil. Denny materialised by them right then.

"Hey, what are you doing?” Denny glared at Mark. “She's my date, not yours!"

Mark released Chelsea’s shoulder and held his hands up in self-defence. "I – I wasn't doing anything, just giving her some advice."

Denny scoffed. "Well, you can stop advising her now, because we're going to start our date and you’re not invited!"

With that, Denny grabbed Chelsea's hand and began marching toward the entrance/exit of the beach, presumably to hail a taxi or something. Mark stayed behind, staring after them – and then he started to write something down.

Before they left, Mark ran up and threw the slip of paper at Chelsea. Somehow, she managed to catch it without breaking contact with Denny. Upon opening it up, keeping her other hand in Denny’s, she found a phone number, which she assumed to be Mark's.

Here’s my number. Call me if you get into trouble.


	5. The Walk

After a few minutes of riding in a cab with nothing to hear but Denny's constant chatter, never letting her get a word in edgewise, the sound of the crowded pizzeria was a welcome relief to Chelsea.

"I love this place so much!" Denny exclaimed as he pulled Chelsea further into the building. They sat at an unoccupied table, Chelsea in the booth and Denny in one of the chairs across from her.

After a few moments, a waiter came over and handed them each a menu. Clearly, this was one of those fancy pizzerias – or, at least, so Chelsea thought until she properly read the menu. 

“Everything in this place has meat in it," said Chelsea, wrinkling her nose.

Denny let out a hearty laugh. "I know! That's why this place is so awesome!"

"Yeah, but…” Chelsea pursed her lips. “I'm a vegetarian... I need something without meat in it."

"Oh, that’s cool.” Denny grinned and reached over the table to tap at a spot on Chelsea’s menu. “You can just order the vegetarian pizza or something."

Chelsea looked at the vegetarian pizza that Denny had just indicated. Looked pretty good; pineapple, bell peppers, olives…

…and ham.

With a frustrated sigh, Chelsea watched as Denny called the waiter over.

"Hey bro! Nice to see you again! I'll have the Meat Lover's Delight, and…" Denny looked at Chelsea.

She waved off his gaze and said that she would just have a salad, thank you very much.

Denny nodded. "Alright! A Meat Lover's Delight and a Chicken Bit Salad, thanks."

Chelsea cradled her head in her hands and hoped to God that this date would end fast.

\--

Clearly, God was busy with something else that day.

They were walking through the forest now, on what was supposed to be a romantic stroll. Denny's idea. Something about seeing it in every romance movie, ever.

Yeah, right. Name one movie where the leading couple got lost – or not murdered, whatever floats your boat. Because that was exactly what they were right now; lost.

Chelsea was trying to call two different people – Mark, since he told her to call in an emergency, and Julia, to yell at her – but she wasn’t getting any signal. The sun had set by this point and they should have been back to the beach hours ago.

So much for a tryst in the moonlight.

Worse, now Denny was beginning to get scared. Chelsea could just make out his silhouette, cowering as he picked his way through the forest.

Chelsea gave him a nasty look. Damn him for getting them into this predicament! But at least he didn't smell like fish like he did earlier.

Chelsea shone the light around her, trying to bring back to memory her time as a Girl Scout has paid off. Luckily, it’s paid off; she knows to look for some things, like a path, a sign, footprints… She shines her light on her companion. "Listen, Denny… I think we can get out of this. Follow me!"

“Okay,” Denny whimpered.

With that, Chelsea began to run. Her footsteps echoed through the trees as she tried to make her way through the forest. Several minutes passed as she ran, and eventually, she started to wonder if she was ever going to see civilization again – until she spotted a light at the end of the trail.

Grateful, she ran towards it. As it turned out, the source of the light was actually Mark sitting on his bicycle, beaming a flashlight into the darkness between the trees.

He frowned at Chelsea, who had leaves and twigs in her hair. Her clothes and face were dirtied with mud and there was a scratch on her face from when she’d run into a tree branch without moving it out of her way first. "Looks like you got in trouble.”

"What… do… you… think?" Chelsea panted, bending over and grabbing her knees. Her heart pounded in her chest. "How’d you find us?"

"I followed the sound of your voices." Mark didn't explain any further, instead settling for looking behind her. "Or, well, one of them, anyway. Where's Denny?"

"Denny? Oh, he's right… behind me…" Chelsea trailed off as she looked behind her. No sign of him.

She groaned loudly.

They'd only known each other for a few hours, but it was safe for Chelsea to assume that Denny wasn't exactly the sharpest pitchfork in the barn. In fact, he seemed to be more like a rubber spatula. That's how far from the barn he was.

Right now, though, Chelsea's main concern was how far away from her he is. She threw her hands up in the air. "I told him to follow me!"

"I'll go look for him," Mark sighed as he climbed down off his bicycle. He gestured into the basket. "You stay here. Charge your phone and try to call for help. I don't want you getting any more damaged than you are right now."

"But - "

"No buts! Stay here by the bicycle, and I'll be back in a few moments." And with that, Mark made his way into the forest, calling Denny's name like a parent looking for a lost toddler.

Chelsea sighed and sat down beside the bike, hating the feeling of uselessness that had come over her. Why did Mark care about her well-being so much, even though they'd just met? She curled into herself and hoped he’d come back soon.

She just wanted to go home.


	6. The Last

"YOU! SCARED! ME! SO! MUCH!" Chelsea shouted, whacking Julia with the pillow once per word. It was the next day – and late. Chelsea had gotten home in the middle of the night, accompanied by Mark, who’d refused to let her walk all by herself in the dark streets. Luckily, he’d been there to protect her, but her parents were so scared that they probably would have grounded her for life if they had only been awake enough.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Julia shouted back, defending herself using only her hands. "I promise it'll never happen again!"

"WE! GOT! LOST! IN! A FOREST!"

"I know, you told me that already! Just calm down!"

"NOT! UNTIL! YOU! PROMISE! TO STOP! SETTING! ME UP!"

"Alright, alright! I promise I won't set you up any more dates without telling you."

Chelsea held back her last shot with a great deal of effort and dropped her weapon. She took several deep breaths – in the nose, out the mouth, in the nose, out the mouth, just like yoga had taught her. “Alright. That’s good.”

"…right after this one."

"WHAT?!"

With a mighty roar, Chelsea hit Julia with the pillow once again. Feathers flew as the thing finally split, nestling themselves everywhere they could reach.

"Alright, first; ow.” Julia rubbed her cheek, where the pillow actually hit her. A few white feathers were caught in her ponytail, but she didn’t seem to mind. “Second, why are you so angry with me? I set you up with someone who I think you’d really like."

Chelsea scowled. “You’ve said that about every guy so far.”

“But it’s someone you know,” Julia said, a smile playing on her lips. “Someone you’ve looked up to for a looooooooong time.”

Chelsea’s frown softened a little. "…who exactly are you talking about?"

"Oh, no one…” Julia let out a delicate little breath and started examining her nails. The smile stopped playing and came out in full force as she gave Chelsea a coy glance. “Just… William Regison."

 

William

 

Regison.

 

Chelsea’s jaw dropped, nearly all the way down to the floor. "W-William… Regison?"

Julia grinned. "You heard me."

"But… but…” Chelsea sputtered, trying to find her words. “How did you manage to set him up with… with me? Doesn't he, like, only date royalty and celebrities or something?"

"Oh, I know a guy…" Julia smirked, as if she was sharing an inside joke with some special part of her mind. "I just described you to him and said that you were the friends with a cousin of the princess of Canada, and he said that you sounded perfect for Will."

“Will! You’re on nicknames now!” Chelsea squealed – but then considered for a moment longer. "…but Canada doesn't have a princess."

"Well, he doesn't know that. Let him live, yeah?"

The doorbell rang downstairs, a shrill call that put an end to their conversation.

Julia smirked. "I'm guessing that's him."

Chelsea shrieked. "Julia, you're the best!"

“I know!”

Chelsea gave her friend a tight, tight hug, then scurried downstairs. She practically flung open the front door – to be met by a face she recognized from her tween years. A face she’d had hanging in various parts of her bedroom; a face that watched her from various posters as she slept.

 

William

 

Regison.

 

It paid to have Julia as a best friend sometimes.

"Hello, there." William smiled. He took Chelsea's hand in his and gave it a kiss.

She had to bite her lip to keep from squealing.

"I'm assuming you're…” William pulled back, gave another dazzling smile, and checked the palm of his hand. “Bralsey? Bralsey Scharmer?"

“…y-yes. That’s me.” Chelsea nodded sheepishly, a silly smile on her face. “Scharlsney Barner – I, I mean, Chelsea Farmer.”

William grinned and pressed his lips against Chelsea’s hand again. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, m’lady.”

Chelsea squealed.

By this time, Julia had made her way down the stairs. She watched the exchange with her arm resting on the banister.

"Heh," she muttered to herself. A smirk stretched itself across her face. "I'm the best bad influence ever."


End file.
